Rumors are circulating around the Belmont campus that the Bruins have made an agreement with Kansas officials to travel to Lawrence and take on the reigning National Champion Jayhawks.
Also rumored (yet unconfirmed) for the 2008-2009 season is a date in Knoxville against the Volunteers.
Kansas and Tennessee went a combined 36-0 at home this season.
Not quite Cincinnati and Alabama...
Rumors are circulating around the Belmont campus that the Bruins have made an agreement with Kansas officials to travel to Lawrence and take on the reigning National Champion Jayhawks.
Also rumored (yet unconfirmed) is a date in Knoxville against the Volunteers.
Kansas and Tennessee went a combined 36-0 at home this season.
Not quite Cincinnati and Alabama...
Wow. I guess those are the guarantee games that the Sun Belt and OVC want to have fewer of.
Also, its interesting that Byrd would play at UT, since he grew up such a big fan in the Mears years. He won't play Vandy anymore because he and Stallings are too close. I guess he doesn't feel as close to UT anymore.
Byrd's an idiot for not playing Vanderbilt, granted it's not a big national game, but I'd be willing to bet that he could probably talk Stallings into bringing Vandy over to the Curb Center. Of course since Vandy isn't Lipscomb, I'm sure only about 1500 or so BU fans would be there, the rest would be Vandy fans.
Byrd's an idiot for not playing Vanderbilt, granted it's not a big national game, but I'd be willing to bet that he could probably talk Stallings into bringing Vandy over to the Curb Center. Of course since Vandy isn't Lipscomb, I'm sure only about 1500 or so BU fans would be there, the rest would be Vandy fans.
Actually Vandy WAS Belmont's first opponent in the Curb Center, and it was a complete sellout (maybe 1000 Vandy fans). Try something else to knock the conference champs on.
Regarding your unwarranted shot at Belmont's fan base.....
Congrats to ETSU for having such a large school in such a remote area and being able to draw 4000 in that monster football stadium/track venue/basketball "gym" of yours. It certainly feels like 1500 people are there. I guess only so many people will show up to watch second-place basketball, even if it's the only game in town.
To the rest of the ETSU fans, I am sorry, but he started it. I actually like and respect ETSU. You have the potential to be the most dominant team in the conference and you scare me every time we play. It is shocking we've been able to have a lot of sucess against you all, and I do not expect that to continue indefinitely. ETSU has a history that I'd be proud to look back in 10 years and say Belmont had.
I wouldn't say he's a rich idiot, but I think he and the A.D. are crazy for not trying to schedule more of the Nashville based teams. TTU, APSU, TSU, Vandy, etc... I mean why not? Bring those fans in as well as their own, more tickets sold, concession sales go up, etc...
As for our fanbase Northside, the dome only allows about 6000 or so for basketball due to some crazy fire marshall law. Given what we have to work with at the moment we're doing alright. You guys seriously need to work on getting people to show up to more than one game a year.
I wouldn't say he's a rich idiot, but I think he and the A.D. are crazy for not trying to schedule more of the Nashville based teams. TTU, APSU, TSU, Vandy, etc... I mean why not? Bring those fans in as well as their own, more tickets sold, concession sales go up, etc...
As for our fanbase Northside, the dome only allows about 6000 or so for basketball due to some crazy fire marshall law. Given what we have to work with at the moment we're doing alright. You guys seriously need to work on getting people to show up to more than one game a year.
Fair enough on the fanbase deal. Belmont should really be getting 2500 regularly, sell out for Loser U., and then pull about 3500 or so for the ETSU's of the world. That is realistic now, and the current attendance is not good enough. I agree with that.
Byrd and Stallings have agreed not to play anymore because they are too close. Byrd did play a home and home with Austin Peay and MTSU this year. They also played TSU at Belmont (frankly that was not as well attended as it should be...including TSU fans). Heck if it weren't for the local teams playing home and home with us, we'd barely have any home games in the non-conference. It is just Vandy that Byrd doesn't want to play, and Stallings agrees.
The problem is that Belmont is sitting in Nashville, which has so many other entertainment options. The public is bombarded with Titans news, pleas to buy Predators tickets, Vandy news, UT news, music venues, etc. Belmont gets lost in the media shuffle. The paper won't give Belmont more coverage that Lipscomb, so both get equally poor coverage. Unfortunately we're in a big city that is known for entertainment, and people overlook Belmont and underestimate the quality of play (NAIA stigma).
All fair points though...